Business supply chain efficiency boosted by collaboration tech

Businesses are increasingly investing in B2Bi (business to business electronic integration), in order to save money and increase the efficiency of their business flow.

That is the general conclusion of a new survey conducted by the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute, together with B2B integration provider DiCentral.

Almost everyone (94 per cent of those surveyed) said their electronic connectivity capabilities have improved 'significantly', while 68 per cent have said their clients now find it easier to work with them.

The report also suggests that there are more opportunities for streamlining processes than there are resources to achieve it, putting extra strain on IT departments to meet essential business objectives.

But there is many room for improvement, as well. The report says that 96 per cent of organisations are connected electronically with at least one trading partner, still the average organisation spends just 5 per cent of its IT budget on such connections.

These connections are expected to rise more than 20 per cent in the next three years, with 69 per cent of organisations saying they want to increase the number of businesses they trade with electronically.

“Successfully collaborating with your business partners requires many things. But as we show in this white paper, technology plays a major role, a role that will only grow larger in the future” said Dr. Paul Dittmann, executive director of the Global Supply Chain Institute at the UT’s Haslam College of Business.

The full results of the study, which surveyed more than 200 professionals, can be found on this link.